Saturday, March 30, 2013

Tomorrow is a BIG day. Sure, sure, Easter and all, but after that, 2 of my favorite TV shows will be on. Tomorrow is the season finale of The Walking Dead and the season premier of Game of Thrones. While I love TWD, I am really, truly, looking forward to the struggle for power of GOT. I was just turned onto the show and books about 6 months ago, and I can't get enough. HBO does a good job of portraying Martin's work on screen, but what we don't see enough of is Bacon. It's all over the books. Stark's head cook is Gage, and even on opposite sides of Westeros, the bacon was so delicious, it was reminisced about...be it at Winterfell or the Inn at the Crossroads.

“Part of him wanted nothing so much as
to hear Bran laugh again, to sup on one of Gage’s beef-and-bacon pies,
to listen to Old Nan tell her tales of the children of the forest and
Florian the Fool.” -A Game of Thrones

I've been dreaming about this recipe since I read about it in the Game of Thrones series. It was so much better than I could ever have hoped for...I think this will replace Chicken Pot Pies, yes it's that good. You'll want to make many!

Beef-and-Bacon Pie

1 package refrigerated pie crust

1 onion, diced

1/2 pound bacon, chopped

1 & 1/2 lb chuck steak or stew meat, cut small

2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 cup beef stock or broth

salt and pepper

1 Tsp dried rosemary

1 Tsp dried oregano

1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll out the pastry dough. I used small 3/4" Aluminium foil tart pans with a little domed lid. You can pick these up in the grocery store with the other aluminum products. 2 fill pie shells unrolled made 3 small tart pies. Or, you can make one large meat pie with the 2 pie shells. Cut the pie pastry into 3 circles per shell and line your greased tart pans.

Put the bacon into a pan with the onion and cook gently until the fat runs from the bacon and the onions is soft and translucently-golden. Add the beef to the bacon and onion and stir over low heat until beef is browned. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.

Add the stock or broth, salt, pepper, rosemary and oregano; mix well and simmer for 10 minutes until a gravy has formed.

Leave the meat in the pan until cool and then into the pie shells. Cover with the remaining pastry and pinch edges closed, using a fork to crease the edges. Brush with beaten egg. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes for tarts or 40 for a large pie. Best hot, but not bad cold.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Lifeis a contradiction.I think Bacon isalso.I mean, meat and fat together inone delicious bite.Smoky and sweet.Crispy and chewy.I’m a yoga instructor in my free time.One would think that would mean I’m all aboutthe natural way of life…organic foods, vegan diet, the enlightened path.No sir.Why would Bacon exist if we weren’t meant to eat it?It would be unethical if I didn’t eat it.If I didn’t do my part, then baconwould be sitting in the stores’ open meat cases, wasting valuable energy, andnot on my plate where it belongs.

Turnsout I am not alone in this thought.Youcan truly have your bacon and yoga too! (Article)Maybe I should start offering Baconat the end of my classes...

I found this delicious recipe watching United States of Bacon on the Destination America Channel. They were really simple, and gone in the blink of an eye. My 4 year-old, who eats like a bird, had 2 helpings. Make them for breakfast, and you'll agree.

Bacon Waffles

6 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled

2 cups baking mix, or pancake mix (Bisquick)

1& 1/3 cups milk

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 Tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

Cook bacon, drain on a paper towel. Set aside.

Plug in and turn on your waffle iron to medium high. Stir remaining ingredients until blended. Pour batter onto center of hot, greased waffle maker. Add some crumbled bacon on top of the waffle batter; close lid. Bake until steaming stops or roughly 4-5 minutes.Carefully remove waffle, bathe in butter and maple syrup and get another waffle in the iron, because you'll want seconds!

Saturday, March 23, 2013

(Totally happens to me when I shop. I think the Bacon leaps into my cart when I'm not looking)

Today's Epic Bacon Recipe is brought to you by my awesome snack making skills. Got 5 minutes and 4 ingredients? Check it out.

Bacon, Cheese and Green Chile Quesidillas

4 slices of Bacon (pre cooked)

4 Tortillas (flour or corn)

1 small 4 oz can of Chopped Green Chilies

1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Sour Cream (optional)

Salsa (optional)

Cook your bacon. For smaller batches of bacon I either saute in a pan or use the microwave. Once cooked, drain the bacon on paper towels, and then chop fine. In a large frying pan on medium heat, use non-stick spray and place a tortilla on the pan. Sprinkle cheese and chopped bacon. Add green chilies to taste.

I like to cover this with a clear lid, so that I can see when the cheese starts to get a little melty, really only a minute or so. Once that has happened, flip one edge of the tortilla onto the other, making a half circle. Flip tortilla over. Cook for 1-2 minutes to brown other side. Remove from heat and cut into thirds or fourths. Serve with sour cream and salsa.

Slice bananas into fourths, discarding the ends. Place them vertically on a tinfoil-lined baking sheet, and insert a lollipop/skewer
in each. Freeze bananas for at least 2 hours. We want them to hold their form when dipping.

When bananas are frozen, melt the chocolate candy melts or chocolate chips in a double boiler (saucepan with boiling water and a larger glass bowl sitting on top),
adding the nutella towards the end.

Dip each banana into the chocolate and roll immediately in toppings. Freeze for another hour or so until serving.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Happy St. Patrick's Day. I made green eggs for breakfast, and for dinner, just a little taste of Irish Beef Stew with Bacon. Enjoy!

Irish Beef Stew with Bacon

Ingredients

8 bacon strips, diced

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

3 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 pound whole fresh mushrooms, quartered

3 medium leeks (white portion only), chopped

2 medium carrots, chopped

1 tablespoon canola oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

4 cups reduced-sodium beef broth

1 cup dark stout beer or additional reduced-sodium beef broth

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed

1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons cold water

Directions

In a stock pot, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Using a slotted spoon, remove to paper towels. In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the flour, salt and pepper. Add beef, a few pieces at a time, and shake to coat. Brown beef in the bacon drippings. Remove and set aside.

In the same pan, saute the mushrooms, leeks, carrots and celery in oil until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Stir in tomato paste until blended. Add the broth, beer, bay leaves, thyme, parsley and rosemary. Return beef and bacon to pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 2 hours or until beef is tender.

Add potatoes. Return to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 1 hour longer or until potatoes are tender. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; stir into stew. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Discard bay leaves

So, I didn't have a recipe to post until tonight. Procrastination City. Using the new Gourmet Bacon I received in the mail, I came up with this Recipe. Hell Ya!

Hell Ya Pork Chops with Bacon4 slices of uncooked bacon, diced (yeah I listed this ingredient first. Show some respect.)2 pork chops (center cut) 4 cloves of garlic, minced4 tbsp dark brown sugar3 tsp olive oilblack pepper Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray or vegetable oil. Place the olive oil in a small pan and saute the garlic until it is tender and golden in color. Remove the garlic and oil from the heat. Add the brown sugar and raw bacon.Place pork chops in the baking dish, season with black pepper and spread the brown sugar, bacon and garlic mixture over the top of the pork chops. Cook for 20 minutes or until the pork is completely cooked through.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Did 'ya know....that I have bacon on the brain so much now, that often times while I am at work updating an account with my comments, I'll write "...will call bacon..." instead of "...will call back on..." (And I even screwed up this post with the same error)

So my friend Karen sent me the recipe for "Crack" Broccoli. I, like you ask "what is Crack Broccoli"? Only Broccoli that you can't stop eating and might make you sell your worldly possessions for. Even the pickiest eater will want to try this delicious dish. How do you make it even more irresistible? Add Bacon of course!

"Crack" Broccoli with Bacon

1 large head of Broccoli

4 slices of Bacon

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

Lemon wedges or lemon juice

Cook your bacon. If in the oven, place a cooling rack over a cookie sheet and lay the bacon out. For this recipe I sprinkled a tbsp of dark brown sugar over the bacon and let it cook in a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven for 20 minutes. Drain on paper towels, and then dice. Set aside.

Peel the broccoli with a sharp paring knife as best as you can. The thinner pieces of broccoli the better. Cut the stems off the broccoli, and cut into long 1/2 inch pieces. Cut into long, thin florets.

Heat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit, and place a large rimmed baking sheet on the lowest rack of the oven. Put the broccoli into a bowl, drizzle it with the oil and toss well until evenly coated. Sprinkle with the salt and sugar. (Don't omit the sugar as it helps the broccoli brown!)

Remove the hot cookie sheet from the oven, and carefully transfer the broccoli to the sheet, spreading into an even layer. Return the baking sheet to the oven until the stalks are browned and tender (about 9 to 11 minutes). Transfer to a serving dish, squeeze a little lemon wedge or lemon juice over the broccoli and then top with diced bacon.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

I’m not sure what necessitated the design of this product.Was it a spazz who ran out of his Albuterol for Asthma?Maybe it was a garbage man, who just couldn’t breathe on the job.Whatever the reason, the product exists!The manufacturer claims it contains “Himilayan Oxygen” (I wasn’t aware that mountain ranges breathe…) and “the Bacon enters the blood stream is seconds.”Huh, instantaneous bacon.I’m liking the sound of that.Plus, it’s kosher.God approves….BaconAir

I think the art of letters and greeting cards is going by the wayside as meme’s and Ecards become more popular.I like mail.If you like Mail, and want to say it with bacon, then check out this assortment of Bacon Greeting Cards!

So, something mysterious has been happening at night, in the primetime hours between 8-10pm, where, despite eating dinner…I get hungry. Shocking! I know!Usually I need something a little salty to tie me over until breakfast calls, but sometimes all I need is chocolate (confession of a true girl).A few nights ago, after perusing the fridge contents, I came up with this delicious monstrosity.Croissants love chocolate.And Chocolate loves Bacon.Let’s have a 3-way with deliciousness.Imagine salty bacon, cuddling up with chocolate chips wrapped in a flaky, buttery blanket.Use what you have on hand and enjoy these carnal fantasies!

Chocolate-Bacon CroissantsMakes 8 croissants

1. packages of refrigerated crescent dough

4 strips of bacon

½ cup Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook your bacon to almost-doneness.If doing this in a pan on the stove, use medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes each side until cooked through and slightly crispy. Cool on paper-towel-lined plate. Break each piece in half so you end up with 8 pieces.

Unroll dough — each package will be divided into 8 triangles.

At the wide end of the triangle, place one piece each of bacon and a small handful of chocolate chips and roll the dough towards the point of the triangle, and place onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

The Iditarod started today in Alaska. I like to follow along every year, something I have been doing since I was a little girl living in Anchorage. It's a test of endurance, strength and trust. The race starts in Anchorage, and travels 1,049 miles
across the Alaskan tundra, through forests, and past sea ice to finish in
Nome, usually between eleven to thirty-two days. Teams stop at dozens of
checkpoints along the way during the trek. Why am I telling you this? Where's the bacon you ask? Well get this: each sled dog requires 8,000 calories a day during the race, and lots of rest. How you would pack on the pounds for you and your dogs? BACON! Susan Butcher, a popular female musher would cook rich meals of beef,
beaver, liver, fish, BACON and seal blubber for the doggie-athletes over a campfire. And I thought Michael Phelps had a great athletic diet!
Speaking of dogs, why is it that some people like to dress them up? I have friends that do it. I just don't get it. So this is for the people who do...

Bacon Dog CostumeA friend from work emailed me this next recipe idea. They are very delicious, greasy, cheesy, finger-licking good. Try to let them cool before biting into them. I burned the roof of my mouth on them, but then kept eating it anyway, cause really, the worst was over, and I couldn't wait. Brought the leftovers into work for my friend Jon. They didn't last more than a few minutes. Enjoy!

Bacon and Egg Breakfast Cups12 slices of Bacon4 eggs1/2 cup of milk1/2 tsp black pepper1/2 tsp salt4-6 pieces of toast (whatever bread you have on hand)2 tsp of Parmesan cheese1/2 cup - cup of shredded cheddar cheesePreheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Using a metal muffin tin, line each hole with a slice of bacon. Taking your bread, using a round cookie cutter, or lid to a condiment jar or container, cut out 2-3 circles per slice of toast. Put the toast circles at the bottom of the muffin tin. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Once combined, add the Parmesan cheese and whisk to incorporate.Sprinkle a pinch of cheddar cheese on the toast, then pour egg mixture into cup of muffin tin, only filling 3/4 of the way up. Top with remaining cheddar cheese. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Pull out of oven and LET COOL. Enjoy!